Another fifteen minutes passed in the silent routine before Mueller finally exhaled a long, steady breath, and Si Cwan followed suit.

“That was stimulating,” she said. Si Cwan simply nodded.

They showered together, scrubbing each other down. There was nothing especially sensual about it, although she certainly did appreciate the hardness of his muscles and sleekness of his body. And she was quite sure that he had the same opinion about her body because, of course, who wouldn’t.

Even as they bathed, her mind was elsewhere. Most particularly, she was thinking about Shelby. The captain had said nothing to her since their confrontation in the conference lounge. That disturbed her. The truth was, in retrospect, Mueller probably had gone too far in her comments about Calhoun. Naturally the woman cared about her husband. She really was out of line. But it wasn’t in Mueller’s nature to seek out Shelby and apologize or seek her forgiveness. If Shelby toldher to apologize, she would do so willingly, even gratefully. Initiating the discussion, though ... that, to Mueller, came across too much like groveling. She had far too much German pride for that.

Shelby hadn’t come to her, though, and that bothered Mueller. As Mueller and Si Cwan dressed in silence, Kat felt as if the disagreement was festering, and that it might even start to bore its way into the captain-executive officer relationship. She knew that wouldn’t be a good thing, that it could be detrimental to the entirety of the way affairs were conducted on the Trident.

“What are we doing here?” Si Cwan asked abruptly.

Talk about conducting affairs.“We’re finishing putting on our clothes,” she said matter-of-factly.

“You know that’s not what I’m referring to, Commander.”

“Commander?”She laughed coarsely. “Are you always that formal with women you sleep with?”

“Only when they’re keeping me at arm’s length.”

Mueller’s uniform top was still hanging open. She faced him and pressed her bare torso up against his. “There. Not arm’s length. Satisfied?”

“What’s going on here, Kat?”

She looked up at him, and even in the dimness of the room, the annoyance in her eyes was certainly visible. “You said ‘Robin.’ You called me ‘Robin.’ ”

“I did not!” Si Cwan protested. “I just called you ‘Kat’!”

“Not now. Earlier. During.”

“That’s absurd. I ... didn’t do such a ... I would never ...” He frowned and seemed to deflate. “I did?”

She nodded. “Loud and clear. ‘Robin.’ Lefler, I assume?”

“Oh gods. I’m sorry.” He turned away from her, sitting on the edge of the bed. “She’s ... been on my mind, lately. Something Kalinda said ...”

“You know what, Cwan?” She fastened closed her uniform shirt, and shrugged. “Let’s just leave it. It’s all right. I shouldn’t even have mentioned it.”

“It’s not all right. I—”

“Cwan, you’re not getting it. I said we leave it. So we leave it. This,” and she gestured around the room, indicating in one sweep of her arm all the activity that had passed there, “this is what it is. I’m really not interested in anything beyond that anyway. I’m content to be two ships passing in the night, especially if you feel your harbor is elsewhere.”

“Kat ...”

“You can be of help to me, though.” There were so many things she wanted to say, but she managed to keep her voice even and dispassionate. She did so from long practice, and had never been more glad of it. “I may have a problem. Could be my imagination ... could be not.”

“What sort of problem?”

In quick, broad strokes, she described to him the encounter she’d had with Lieutenant Commander Gleau. Si Cwan took it all in, nodding and listening, asking a question here and there, but otherwise silent.

“So you don’t know for sure,” Si Cwan said finally, “whether he really did threaten Lieutenant M’Ress.”

“No. I don’t. Frankly, my first inclination was to dismiss her worries out of hand. But since then ...” She tapped her solar plexus. “My gut tells me what she said is true.”

“A conjecture,” said Cwan after a moment’s thought. “Let’s say, for argument’s sake, he did threaten her. It’s possible it was an empty threat, one that he never intended to carry out. Perhaps he did so in order to gain some sort of ... of ‘revenge’ for having to sign the oath of chastity enforced upon him, which he would most certainly blame her for. It was, after all, her initial complaints about his using the Knack upon her to have his way with her that set all that into motion in the first place.”

“Let’s say you’re right,” said Mueller. She had seated herself near the table and was idly munching on a bread-stick. Cwan came over and joined her, sitting opposite her. She waved the breadstick at him as she spoke. “Are you claiming, then, that what he did was acceptable on some level ... ?”

“No, of course not,” replied Si Cwan. “I am saying, however, that it might not be the life-and-death scenario that you believe it to be.”

She bit off a piece of the breadstick. The crust was hard and made very loud noises as she crunched down on it. She chewed it quickly and swallowed, and then said, “Perhaps you’re right.”

“Perhaps I am.”

“However,” she continued, “in the event that you’re wrong ... if something should happen to me—something violent or mysterious—I want you to know that Gleau might very well be behind it. And if that’s the case, I would be most obliged if you could find it within you to rip his head off his shoulders.”

“Violent or mysterious?” He looked appalled. “Are you saying you believe this Gleau to be a direct threat to you?”

“I don’t know what to believe, to be honest, except that one should never downplay possible actions that others may take. If Gleau thinks I’m a potential threat, and he thinks he can dispose of me without being caught doing so ...”

“How would that be possible?”

“Who knows what he’s capable of?” she asked reasonably. “If he does have some sort of mind powers that we’re unfamiliar with, who knows what sort of suggestions he could plant in my head. What if he managed to convince me that it would be a superb idea to put a phaser in my mouth and pull the trigger? We don’t know. We can’t know until after it happens ... and if it does happen, I wanted you to be aware to be on the lookout for it.”

“And you haven’t told Captain Shelby any of this?”

“It’s my job to tell the captain what I know. Not what I suspect but can’t verify.”

“It seems to me your job is whatever you decide it to be, and if you wanted to tell Shelby, you could.”

“Cwan,” she said, “you have to understand that I have a very suspicious nature. If I told Captain Shelby every time I was suspicious about something, I’d be coming to her constantly about all manner of things, to the point where I would be useless as an advisor. And ninety percent of the time, those suspicions turn out to be baseless, or else the basis for matters that are so inconsequential as to not be worth the captain’s time. I will not inform the captain of something that does not yet warrant her attention.”

“It seems to me that you’re allowing your pride to get in the way,” he told her.

“Perhaps,” she agreed. “But it’s my pride. And my way.”

“I can see that.” He looked at her askance. “Would you like me simply to dispose of this Gleau for you?”

She blinked. “Pardon?”

“I can do that, if you’d like. Quickly, cleanly, efficiently. None will connect it to you, or even me.”

“Don’t be insane, Cwan. You can’t just unilaterally decide who lives and who dies ...”

“I can and I have, on several occasions,” Si Cwan replied.

“Back when you were a Thallonian noble, perhaps ...”

“I still am a Thallonian noble,” said Si Cwan with assurance. “The fact that the Thallonian empire is gone is beside the point.”

“See, I would have thought that wasthe point.”